![]() MANN: And there was an attempt, Ailsa, to reform these laws about 11 years ago. To this day, it is one of the worst votes I ever cast. And fear inspired misguided and discriminatory policy. And he called the policy a disaster.ĭICK DURBIN: At the height of the crack scare, facts fell victim to fear. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, who chairs the judiciary committee, spoke about this during a hearing this morning. But federal data show that law wound up primarily targeting Black and Hispanic Americans, who sometimes spend decades behind bars, even for nonviolent drug crimes. And Congress responded by passing a law that mandated long prison sentences even for the sale of tiny amounts of crack. So in the 1980s, there was this big crack cocaine scare. NPR addiction correspondent Brian Mann joins us now to talk about all this.ĬHANG: So can you just remind us how we got here? Like, why is crack cocaine treated differently from powder cocaine? Well, today, the Biden administration backed a bill that would eliminate this disparity, further dismantling the harsh policies that were implemented during the war on drugs. Critics say that has meant Black and brown Americans are spending far more time behind bars compared with white Americans. ![]() is far more severe compared to the penalties for powder cocaine. The punishment for selling crack cocaine in the U.S.
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